


Dancing through Dreams

by Phillidore



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24721672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phillidore/pseuds/Phillidore
Summary: Freija - the daughter of a nobleman from Wessex and his first wife - has never felt at home amongst her younger sisters. She doesn't pray to their god, they have no common interests and she has always prefered solitude to their gossip. When Northmen arrive she takes her fate into her own hands.
Relationships: Floki (Vikings)/Original Female Character(s), Floki/OFC, Torstein (Vikings)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 41





	1. The Feeling

The wind howled like a lonely dog.

The cold swept into all places, following the rain.

Most people outside hurried along, exept for one figure. Her walk seemed nearly like a dance and if one paid close attention, one could also hear her hum and silently mumble.

She finally reached a big structure that through the rain would prove to be a hall.

The moment she entered the hall, the peace that she had felt outside in the rain, was completely diminished. Loud screeches were heard, followed by a group of girls running around the hall. They were her sisters.

Only by blood though.

She had never understood them, and she had been happy just learning and thinking in solitude.

Her sisters also shied away from any kind of manual work and rather ran around gossiping all day, every day.

She had never minded work – it gave her the sometimes needed peace that her mind would else never grant her.

Her father – like any nobleman – wished for at least one son. He never had that luck. Seven daughters, he had though – of whom six were flighty and frail. That frailness was seen as a positive thing in their part of Wessex.

Nobody took any interest in her. Her strangeness kept people away, as her belief in Gods long lost to most others, was unnatural to them.

Her mother had been a Northern woman. She had been the first wife of her father and nobody had ever known how exactly she had come to be in Wessex, as she had been born and brought up in a Viking village of which she had only ever spoken to her daughter and no one else. She had wasted away when her husband took another wife. She had loved him, and he adored her. But he was in need of an heir. Taking a second wife was not done unless a man of noble heritage was in need of an heir.

Her mother had named her Freija. Another thing that made her an outsider in the village, if not in the whole of Wessex.

She never spoke to her sisters and stepmother, rarely to her father, and they only ever mentioned her in passing and spoke to her even less.

The days were passing quickly now. They had been near endless and filled with adventure when her mother was still alive, but these days Freija felt like she was only waiting for something to happen.

In her dreams the Gods whispered to her.

What they were saying, she did not yet know, sometimes she could make out a few words, but she never remembereed them when she woke.

Every minute was minute to her and things that were horrible problems to her sisters, were but a laughing matter to her.

She had a feeling today, which she could not at all describe. She felt giddy whith exitement. Everything seemed to scream with happiness: her legs wanted to run, her hips wanted to swing, her arms tingled and she just barely managed to stop herself from constantly giggling.

She was – as always – ignored by everyone. No difference today.

Only a few funny looks accompanied her today – as, if to question her sanity once more, for no one could possibly be giddy with happiness on such a rainy summers day.

As her family sat down for dinner a rumbling and mumbling could be heard in the room.

Sometimes there still would be a screech of laughter from one of her sisters and mumbling talk from the servants.

Until suddenly silence seemed to shout.

Her sisters were still giggling.

But even they were silenced with one of her fathers looks.

Freijas senses spiked and the door sprung open with such a force that it was akin to an explosion.


	2. The Change

Her sisters screamed.

Her father made a strangled noise. The servants’ blood coloured the ground. She got lost in the pattern the droplets formed. Only for a moment though.

She saw her sisters cowering in a corner. All of them huddled together, seeming more like cattle than human beings. How ironic that she should be the only one still standing tall.  
She now looked around for the first time. Her father was still sitting on his seat at the head of the table. He looked both proud and resigned. There was not a hint of fear to be seen in his eyes. He would never cower. He would never beg. He would stand proud until his last breath was breathed.

The men, that had caused the door to be mere splinters on the ground and the servants to be lying amongst those splinters, had now positioned themselves so that no one could flee.

One of the men – he had previously been silently talking with another – now stepped forward. He was blond. His eyes reminded Freija of her own, that were so blue you would not think the colour to exist in nature. He looked at every single person still alive in the room. Seemingly thinking what to make of the scene that was presented before him.  
Her father now stood up.

One of her younger sisters seemed to take this movement as a clue and started towards their father. Freija stopped her, hugging her.

“Take what you will” her father’s voice was as strong as ever, as he spoke in her mothers’ tongue “but do not interfere with my daughters”. The blond man looked up, now more curious than before “You speak our language?” It was no question.  
Her father nodded: “My first wife was of your people, she tought me and our eldest to speak in the language of your people, as she knew we might need it one day.” One could almost see the vikings’ realisation that there might be someone of worth here after all, as they did not have riches of any kind. “Who would that eldest child of yours be?”  
Freija stood taller now, still holding her sister. “I am.” his eyes now were focussing on her. It seemed like he could see right through her. She looked back at him, a smile now forming on her lips. Why, she would not be able of explaining to anyone who might ask. 

The blond mans' look seemed to become even curiouser. Before he could say anything more, she continued “my name is Freija. And what might it be that they call you?” The man behind him now looked surprised, one of them even let out a sound between a laugh, cough and giggle.  
“They call me Ragnar” he smiled “and you seem to have learned more from your mother than just her language” even his eyes were laughing.

A screach suddenly pierced the scene. It came from one of her sisters that were still huddled together in the corner.

Ragnar now looked back at her father. “We will leave your daughters alive.” as her father was ablout to thank him, he continued “you and your wife, we can’t let you live. Any of your daughters that should choose to, may accompany us back to Kattegat. As free women.”  
All gazes were on her again. “I will come with you.”

The next things happened so fast that she could only hold her sister closely locked in the hug and shielding her from the view. 

Her father got up, was hit by a knife in the throat, her sisters and stepmother screamed and had her throat slit. Her sisters were crying now, all exept for the one that was still holding on to her.

The men now took the whole hall apart. Freija decided it was time to finally move, picking up her small bag, that she had carried with her when she had been outside before. It contained all things that she deemed important: some herbs, a wooden raven that she had played with as a child and two necklaces and a bracelet that had belonged to her mother.

She only now realized that the sister that was still holding on to her, was indeed her youngest sister, who was but four years old. And as the child would not let go of her any time soon, she simply picked her up and walked towards the man that had called himself Ragnar.


	3. First Introductions

Her sense of time seemed to have disappeared.  
A moment ago, Freija had been in the forest gathering herbs, now she was sitting on board of a ship cradeling her sister.  
She still kept her calm, as she felt there could be worse things than sitting amongst people that at the very least tolerated her. At home that had been the norm. Everyone had just tolerated her, as she was a rather good healer and their lords’ eldest child, thus she felt rather confident about the future.  
Perhaps more confident than she had ever felt.  
She could now write her own story. Believe in her gods without anyone calling her a heathen or spitting on the ground as she walked past. She and her sister would be free. At home they both would eventually have been married off, but the Vikings did not usually handle their women like that.  
A father could decide whom his daughter would marry, but they did not have a father anymore. Freija would have to work. But that would not make life different, as she had had to work before.  
Now that the sea steadied her thoughts, she looked around.  
There were many men, they were partly still talking, some were sleeping and a few were keeping an eye on the ship and the sea.  
There was a woman with Ragnar, she now noticed.  
The way they spoke showed that they were probably married, or had at least been sharing an intimate bond for a very long time.  
She was beautiful. In a very different way than any of the women in her hometown. Their beauty had been simple. Their hair simply held back, their eyes shy, everything about their beauty had been girl-like.  
She was no girl. This woman stood tall, talked back, fought, and would let no one dictate her life. This woman – Freija decided – was someone to take as an example. 

She loosened her focus on Ragnar and his woman and instead looked around the ship some more.  
The bear-like man that had stood next to Ragnar and a blond man of a similar size were sitting on benches roughly in the middle of the ship. They seemed to be talking in a friendly way. She could not hear what they were saying, as they were speaking rather lowly, but she could not but be fascinated that men such as these – bear-like, violent men – could be so gentle, even if just while speaking.  
The men at home would always command. Whoever a man was, he would always be as loud as he could. Only with a man of a higher standing in their company, would they be more composed. 

Her silent thoughts were interrupted by the blond man that had been talking to the bear.  
He stood before her now, a slight smile on his face, that immediately was replaced with an apprehensive look, as he looked her in the face. She must have looked very confused. “Don’t worry, I’m not afraid of you” she said, hoping to clear up the situation.  
He raised an eyebrow, still with the apprehensive look on his face “Why that look then?”. Now she had to smile, she had never seen a man unsure of anything. “Because I did not see you come over here. I was lost in thoughts” he laughed at that, loudly.  
Now it seemed to be her turn to be confused, she gestured for him to sit down, as it was rather uncomfortable to look up at such a tall person while sitting.  
As he sat, he said “I’m Torstein. Your name is Freija, right?” She nodded. “What’s her name?” he gestured to her still sleeping sister.  
Freija stroked her sisters’ hair as the little girl slept “Her name is Aston, father hoped for a boy again and made his wife promise to call the child that should it be born while he was at court” Torstein looked interested “Is it a boys name then?” Freija shook her head.  
“It is mostly used for boys, but there have been women with that name as well. I suppose father did somewhat suspect to have another daughter, after he had six of them already and no sons.” she smiled sadly. She had never particularly liked any of her sisters – the youngest one exempt – but knowing that they were either dead or she would never see them again, was not a pleasant thought.  
“Does it have a meaning then? Your sisters’ name that is.” he smiled again. People did not usually smile so much around her. She nodded to that “Yes, it comes from the male name Athelstan-” at this she was interrupted “that name I know, Ragnar’s priest is called by that name” this confused her, a priest? Living amongst northmen? That was a thing unheard of, but it would easily explain why they took her with them without a hassle.  
She decided not to ask further on that topic, as she was sure that she would meet that priest herself. She decided to ask him about his story, if she did indeed meet him.  
Torstein seemed to still be interested “Does the name have a meaning?” she nodded once again. “It does, it means precious stone or gem-stone.”  
“So, it is a very fitting name, both for the priest, and for your sister.” he seemed to be certain on that “The priest is the reason we understand the Saxons now and know about their country, well and your sister seems to be very precious to you and will probably break many hearts once she is grown” Freija nodded in agreement, but was now too tired to formulate an answer.  
Torstein got up again and told her as he was leaving “If you ever have any questions or want to know who is who on this boat, do not hesitate to ask me.” with that she fell into a deep slumber.


	4. Chapter 4

When she woke up, the first thing she heard was her sisters’ giggle.  
She didn’t really know what to expect when she opened her eyes, but she figured that if the girl was giggling, she was fine.  
When she did open her eyes a moment later, she saw her sister talking and laughing with Torstein and the thin, tall man with the coal-painted eyes.  
She had seen him previously, but he always seemed to linger on the sidelines as far as she had observed so far.  
She had barely finished that thought when her sister noticed that she was awake and stormed towards her, bombarding her with a whole load of stories that the two men seemed to have told her. Freija only smiled and hugged her sister gently. It was too soon after waking for her to join in in such a merriment.  
The men seemed to notice that as well and Torstein told her sister as much as he started telling her yet another story exclaiming that the other man – Floki, seemed to be his name – was far better at telling stories, but he would be able tell her the story anyway, even if not as well as the other man could. 

The lanky man seemed to be taking her apart with his intense look. His eyes were dancing, she noticed.  
The rest of his face seemed not to be static but rather erratic as he thought and felt, but his eyes seemed to continuously dance with mirth.  
She smiled at him lightly.  
She had not yet exchanged a word with the man, but already liked him out of some inexplicable reason. “Is there any food?” she asked softly.  
He only nodded and with a slight of head inclined her to follow him. He lead her to the woman that she had assumed to be Ragnar’s wife and left her with a nod, dancing more than walking.  
She nodded lightly in return as he walked away – probably to go back to Torstein and her sister.  
The woman had watched the silent communication with an interested look, gave her some food and held out a waterskin.  
“It seems Floki likes you” Freija twitched at hearing someone speak next to her. It was Ragnar. He was smiling widely.  
He moved over to the woman and with another smile said “This is Lagertha, my wife. But just so you are warned, she probably is one of the best fighters among us.” he left with another grin to the two women, that just seemed to stay behind for a little while.  
Lagertha smiled at her very lightly “He is right, you know?” this confused her, Lagertha seemed to realise that as well “that Floki seems to like you, I mean.”  
Freija’s confusion lingered still.  
Lagertha explained further “Floki isn’t very friendly. He hates outsiders, but you and your sister are treated by him in a way he usually only treats friends.”  
Freija didn’t know how to react to this. So she ate and drank.  
Lagertha was watching her intently, it was a look of indecision.  
She was trying to figure out whether the other woman was a danger to her family.  
Freija was not, but she did not know how to show the other woman that through her no harm would come to her family.  
She would have to think of something. But not right now. 

They were still on the ship and the day was progressing. It must’ve been early evening by now, as she had slept rather long and time just seemed to fly.  
The wind was steady, not too harsh, but steady enough for them to travel fast.  
It started smelling like rain.  
When the first raindrop hit her, Freija couldn’t hold back a gleeful laugh.  
She laid her head back and enjoyed the feeling of the calming, cleaning water on her face.  
As she looked around most people either continued with their tasks of huddled under their cloaks, all but one.  
She looked at the man that the others had referred to as Floki and smiled at his joyful grin towards the skies.  
He seemed to know someone was looking at him, as he found her eye.  
Once their glances connected his grin was now directed to her.  
The rain increased and she outright laughed towards the heavens.


	5. Chapter 5

The days seemed to fly by.  
The could not be far from their destination now.  
Freija had talked a little with Lagertha in the past days, but a lot with Torstein.  
He was on the best way of becoming the closest of confidants to her.  
There was no romantic feeling lost between them, though the attraction was certainly not lacking.  
Freija had not had a friend like Torstein before.  
He teased her.  
He encouraged her.  
He was intent on making her laugh.  
She had never been the happiest of people.  
Knowing what happens before it does never proved to be an encouraging thing.  
Not that she had ever really told anyone about it.  
But she had never felt as though someone truly saw her as an equal, but she felt Torstein did see her as such.  
They talked about everything.  
About hunting, about the wind and how its power made her feel invincable, about their fathers, their beautiful mothers.  
He sometimes spoke rather crudely, but always in a respectful manner.  
He seemed to be the person to tease everyone around him to keep their minds off of the heavyness that could come over a person when there was nothing to do but look at the everchanging sea. 

Aston was also still as happy as ever.  
She adored the tall, strange man Floki and Torstein for telling her stories that in their previous home had been reserved for the boys.  
Freija understood her sister’s delight in these stories, as she herself remembered that – in the moment that more than a drop of blood was mentioned in a story and its purpose was not a lovestory – she was forbidden from listening to it. 

Those stories – the ones including blood and gall – were solely meant for the boys. In Wessex at least. The northmen seemed fine with having women listen to stories like this, or even tell them, or in cases like Lagertha women also fought.  
Freija felt that the place, she would call home soon, would be a true home.  
Her first true home.  
A place in which she was who she wanted to be.  
A place where she was a woman, but not powerless. 

She felt much different already – she felt free.  
They hadn’t even arrived at their destinaton, but she already felt free.

It was getting dark now and from what she had understood, they would arrive around midday on the next day.  
Aston was already sleeping.  
She had been even more exited now that they would arrive soon and was just overflowing with energy for the whole day.  
Torstein, Floki and Ragnar had told her many stories that only made her more exited about their arrival.  
Being pulled out of her thoughts by Torstein who was sitting down next to her now, Freija turned slightly and smiled at the man. 

“Do you know what I am most exited about, Freija?” he asked with gleaming eyes.  
As she hadn’t a clue, she answered him with an unsure gesture.

“A bath. I am exited about a bath.” he smiled outright now. 

Freija realized now that she herself was exited about bathing.  
She was always considered one of the most clean people in her previous home.  
The men often did not bath for several weeks, some even for months. 

Her mother, though, had raised her to wash at least once a week.  
She had always told her that that was the way that people in her home had done it, and she appeared to have been telling the truth – not that Freija had ever doubted her mother’s words.  
“I really do look foreward to a bath as well” the young woman admitted rather shyly. 

Torstein’s smile now grew cheekier “Well, maybe we’ll simply take that bath together, hm?”.  
Freija now blushed exessively and answered with a “Maybe we will.” not wanting to confirm nor deny him.  
And after a further moment of teasing and embarrassed silence they fell back into their simple and usual bantering, friendly conversation, spurred on by the knowledge of arriving on the following day.


	6. Chapter 6

She awoke because someone was shaking her.   
As she slowly managed to open her eyes, she saw that that person was Aston.   
The little girl had a wide smile on her face and started talking as soon as she saw that her sister’s eyes were even just slightly open.   
Freija could not comprehend what her sister was telling her, as it was far to early after waking for her to understand anything but the siplest of sentence structures. 

As Aston seemed to realize that her sister could not yet follow her exited words, she took off in the direction of Floki, which left Freija with Torstein, whom she only saw now. 

He was smiling about as widely as her sister as he held out a hand for her to grasp. 

As he helped her up, he told her – still smiling – that they would arrive home in but an hour or two.

“Home” she tried the word cautiously, it seemed so foreign a concept to her. 

Torstein smiled even wider as he heard her speak and nodded. 

“Yes, home, Freija.” as she heard him her smile widened and a tear glistened in her eye. 

“It’s just, I don’t think I’ve had a place to call home before...” a softer smile now was to be seen on the northman’s face and he leaned down and hugged her. 

Not expecting him to touch her, she was in shock for a moment until she realized that this sort of affection was something that she had perhaps been needing for a while. 

So she hugged back.

It wasn’t a sweet or soft hug. 

It was full of happiness and desparation and hope and fear. 

They kept eachother from falling victim to reality for a moment and then it was over as fast as it had started. 

She wasn’t missing the hug after they let go of eachother. 

She kept appreciating it, even though they were going on with their routines and were preparing to arrive soon. 

The exitement was nearly so thick that Freija thought she might be able to taste it in the air. 

As someone pointed out a landmark that showed that they were almost there, the exitement bubbled up even more. 

Men she had never seen with as much as a simple smile were close to laughing out loud. 

Men who did show their feelings more often, were partly near tears. 

Freija herself was rather giddy. 

Aston was almost jumping around out of exitement as Floki pointed out landmarks to her. 

As they could now see the land or at least bits and pieces of it, her exitement bubbled up inside of her, even though she barely showed it. 

When the pier came into sight, Freija’s heart was beating fast. 

They couldn’t yet see the people’s faces, but they had been spotted already and some people were waiting on the shore. 

As they came nearer and nearer to the land, Aston ran over to her sister and Freija held her hand, nearly paralysed with exitement. 

When the boat finally arrived at the pier, they stayed back while all the people with families exitedly reunited with them. 

She saw people kissing. 

Husbands and wives reuniting, mothers hugging their sons, sisters hugging their brothers, fathers hugging their children exitedly. 

Nearly everyone on the boat had someone here. 

Freija scanned the ship with melancholic eyes, thinking there would surely be no one else left on the ship, who had no one waiting for them. But it seemed she had been wrong with that expectation. 

A little bit away stood Floki, looking about as melancholic as she did. It seemed to be a foreign look for his face.   
She had only ever seen him thoughtful or exited. He seemed sad. He looked up and when he saw her looking at him, he smiled. 

Smiling back, she suddenly didn’t feel as alone as she previously had.


	7. Chapter 7

It had been several days since Freija and Aston had arrived at Kattegat. 

Kattegat – Freija had found out mere minutes after leaving the boat – was the name of their new home. 

They lived in the hall, as they had apparently been fortunate enough to have been brought by the earl himself.   
Ragnar and his wife had decided that Aston and Freija would be treated as though they were family and both were incredibly happy about that.   
Aston was especially happy about it because she had become fast friends with Gyda – Ragnar and Lagertha’s daughter. 

Freija though was feeling restless. 

She had nearly no work to do. 

The high status that she and her sister had here, was an honor, but to her it also was a slight inconvenience.   
She needed things to do.  
Needed to take walks and collect herbs.   
Needed to chop wood and make fires.   
Also, there were people everywhere.   
She could deal with them from time to time, but too many of them around all the time, equaled constant concentration, which was quite an exhausting thing to maintain. 

She just wanted some peace and quiet, because if she had to stay polite a lot longer, she would snap.   
She didn’t want to, and she would certainly try not to.   
But the way things were going, she would not be able to stay in control much longer.   
And as she had asked Torstein the day before if there was usually anything of a lot of danger in the woods, and he had in turn explained that there were usually no wolves around in these parts, she had now decided to simply take a solitary walk and perhaps – should she recognise any – collect some herbs. 

With that determination, she walked away from the village. 

The moment she entered the woods, she felt at peace.

She was walking and listening to the trees and the birds and all the other sounds one hears in a forest.   
The birds sounded different here. Not awfully so, but different enough for Freija to notice.   
She was humming as she walked along and whenever she would find a herb or berry of which she knew that it was either possible to be used in healing or safe to be eaten, she’d pick it and place it in her basket.   
This was the first moment in which she felt truly at home here.   
People accepted her, the forest did too and everything was more peaceful than it had ever been before.   
If this was how life could be, or – she barely dared to think it – if it could be even better, she could understand now, why people fought so fiercely for it. 

As there seemed to be a change in the air, Freija carefully looked around.   
If it was an animal, it would be vital to know early enough what animal it was, so she would not react wrongly and rile it up by accident. 

It wasn’t an animal.

Through the trees she saw eyes. 

After a moment more she realized it was Floki.   
Standing there, between the trees, watching her as though one of them was a wild animal. 

She simply smiled at him.

Then she resumed walking, collecting and humming.   
As she was walking back to the town a while later, she realized that she had not seen Floki between the feast that had taken place when they arrived and now. So he seemed to prefer solitude to company and people thought him strange for that. She would definitely have to get to know him now.

Maybe she could ask Torstein about him later.


End file.
